Nothing is What It Seems
by peddiegirl101
Summary: I never wanted to be the bad guy, but here I am, ready to follow the commands of my boss, X.A.N.A., who possessed my father. Something's telling me I shouldn't betray my friends, but I have to. I'm not entirely sure what X.A.N.A.'s plans are for me, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. My name is Lacey and I am here to destroy Lyoko, whether I like it or not. *Supercomputer ON*
1. Prologue

**Lacey's POV**

Let's just be clear; I never _wanted_ to be here. _Never _in a million years would I have guessed that I would be in boarding school. I would've much rather continued my sad life as a screw-up. Which is how I got here; I screwed up. Thanks to me, my whole family was being threatened and there was only so much I could do about it. But I was here now, in Kadic Academy, ready to do what I was commanded to do.

But was I _really_ ready to do it? I can't help but wonder if it was _really_ the right thing to do. But when it came to my family, I knew I needed to protect them, even if they didn't ever do the same for me.

I just feel bad for my future "friends". I already knew who they were going to be and I wasn't happy about it. Everything was assigned for me, and if I went and did my own thing, I might as well say goodbye to my family.

Maybe I was ready, but I was pretty sure I wasn't. Either way, there was no backing down now.

**Whoa! What am I doing in this part of Fanfiction?! Haha, just kidding! I've always been a fan of Code Lyoko, but I never got around to writing a fanfiction—one that I've decided to continue, anyway. I mainly write House of Anubis fanfictions—which is where my penname comes from—so this is pretty much my first published Code Lyoko story, so we'll see where this goes! (: Thanks for reading, and review so I know people are reading! xx**


	2. Chapter 1: Starting Now

**Chapter 1: Starting Now; Lacey's POV**

"Perfect." I stepped out of the cab. "Thank you." I gave the driver the money I owed him and he nodded, driving off.

I sighed and turned around. Looking around the school, I let yet another deep, slightly anxious breath out. I knew that this would be my home for the next few months—or weeks. The sooner I can get out of here, the better.

Some students whispered as I walked by. I could hear "new girl" being thrown back and forth in the conversation, along with other topics, such as where I came from, what grade I was in, and my name. I continued walking, purple suitcase behind me, ignoring them all. Now, I partially wished I had my earbuds in my ears, to fully block out all of the murmurs.

My mobile buzzed, altering me that someone was calling. When I plucked it out of my leather jacket's pocket, I saw the symbol I had become all too familiar with. I hesitated slightly before answering it.

"Find the group I assigned you to." My father's possessed voice came from the other line. It almost hurt to hear that he was still inhabited by my new boss. "_Now_!"

"I need the pictures you gave me and they're in my suitcase." I weakly explained.

"The purple one is just ahead of you." Not-Dad responded.

"You can see _through_ my phone?" I asked as I looked around. Sure enough, there was a boy whom I recognized from the pictures—the blonde one.

"Of course I can; it's technology, isn't it?" The voice impatiently replied. "Now, _hurry_! Time is ticking, you know."

"I know." I sighed and hung up, approaching the blonde boy and thinking of a reason to do so as I walked. "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" He asked. He eyed me, mainly because this was the first time he had seen me on campus—or anyone had seen me on campus.

"I'm new and _totally_ lost. How the heck do I get to the girls' dormitories?"

"Oh, classic rookie mistake." The blonde chuckled. "I'll walk you over there."

"Thanks _so_ much." I smiled, hoping it looked real. Of _course_ I knew where the girls' building was—I had gotten the map in the packet of acceptance papers. "I'm Lacey, by the way."

"Odd." He responded.

"Excuse me? Are you making fun of—"

"No," He chuckled. "My _name_ is Odd. So, actually _you're_ making fun of _my_ name."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. I recognized the name now that I heard it. It was just a matter of matching it with the face on the pictures X.A.N.A. had given me.

"Really." He confirmed. "There's a _ton_ of unique names around here."

"Well," I began. "I guess it _is_ France." I weakly joked, but soon stopped smiling, realizing I could have offended him. To my surprise, Odd laughed.

Odd finished laughing and asked, "Who's your roommate, anyway?"

"Aelita Stones. Do you know her?"

"Actually, she's one of my best friends." Odd replied. "Isn't her room one of the smaller ones, though?"

"I guess it was the only one left." I shrugged. In reality, X.A.N.A.—through my father—had made sure that I was with one of my "victims" as he called them, though I preferred he didn't. I wasn't completely sure how he had done it, so all I knew was that I was Aelita's roommate now.

"I'm sure there are plenty of other—"

"Is this it?" I asked, purposely stopping him midsentence.

"It is." Odd responded, seemingly forgetting about the whole room situation. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when an older man dressed in a red jogging suit approached us.

"Larissa Xavier?" He asked, sounding slightly cranky.

"That would be me." I responded. "But I'd prefer to be called 'Lacey', please."

"I had a teammate in the paranormal investigation group I was in named Lacey." The older man answered.

"You were a paranormal investigator, Jim?" Odd questioned.

"I'd rather not talk about it." The man—Jim, I guessed—replied. "Lacey, follow me to your room, then."

I gave Odd a small wave as I followed Jim. He waved back and ran to catch up with two teens I identified from the pictures—the boy who always wore green and the Japanese girl who wore black. I felt slightly bad, after seeing how nice Odd was to me.

I could tell already that this wasn't going to turn out very well.

**So I hope that was okay… I'm feeling pretty confident about this story. (:**

**And both reviews—thanks for that by the way! (: - that I received asked if there was going to be pairings. The answer is: yes, to some extent. I am a HUGE Ulrich and Yumi fan (who never kissed :P) and I kinda like Jeremie and Aelita… But I'll consider some REASONABLE requests (I.E. No X.A.N.A. monsters with a Lyoko warrior…) **

**Thanks SO much for reading! (:**

**xx **


	3. Chapter 2: Good So Far

**Chapter 2: Good So Far; General POV**

"Hey, guys." Odd approached Ulrich and Yumi, who had been talking on a bench. "What's up?"

"Nothing, Odd." Ulrich sighed, frustrated by Odd's interruption. "Thanks to you."

Odd took in Ulrich and Yumi's blushing. "Oh? I interrupted something?"

"No." Yumi said, at the same time Ulrich answered "Kind of." They both looked at each other and blushed again.

"Oh, young love." Odd laughed and took a seat next to Ulrich. "How sweet thy sound."

"Well, I'm going home." Yumi stood up. "Bye, Odd. Bye, Ulrich."

"See you, Yumi." Ulrich waved as she smiled and headed out of the campus gates to her home off campus.

"Gee, thanks, Odd." Ulrich sighed again, squinting slightly at his roommate.

"What'd I do?" Odd asked, shrugging.

"I was just about to ask her to go to the dance with me." Ulrich replied. "But you interrupted."

"Dance?" Odd sat up straighter. "What dance?"

"The one that's on Saturday." Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"There's a dance on Saturday?" Jeremie approached the two, who were still seated on the bench.

"Did none of you listen to Ms. Hertz? She announced it yesterday in class." Ulrich said.

"Oh, that's why I didn't know." Odd nodded slowly. "I was sleeping, as usual."

"I was scanning for activated towers." Jeremie explained, pulling out his laptop. "X.A.N.A.'s been so quite lately, it's incredible."

"Maybe he's planning something big." Ulrich suggested.

"_Or_," Odd began, smiling. "_Maybe_ he's giving us a break for a few weeks. You know, to get ready for the dance."

Ulrich snorted. "If only."

"I think Ulrich's closer to the truth." Jeremie said. He stood up, taking his laptop with him. "I'm going to the factory."

"Do we need to call a group meeting?" Ulrich asked.

"I think it's okay. I'll keep you updated." Jeremie answered, heading toward the factory.

"Hey, Ulrich, do you think I should ask Heidi to the dance?" Odd asked his friend.

"I don't know, Odd. I'm kind of concentrated on my own date." Ulrich responded, getting up from the bench to head to the boys' dorm building.

"How about Emily?" Odd asked, following him.

"She's in the grade above us, Odd."

"So is Yumi." Odd pointed out.

Ulrich blushed slightly. "Shut up."

"Oh! I bet Claire would go with me!"

Lacey hesitated before opening the door. _It's not really my room yet. I should probably knock. _Just as she was about to do so, the door swung open. A girl with pink hair and pink clothes opened it. She smiled at the redhead.

"You must be Larissa, my roommate." She opened the door wider.

"Can you please just call me Lacey?" The grey-eyed girl corrected. "I hate my real name."

"Well, Lacey, it's nice to meet you. I'm Aelita. Aelita Stones." The friendly, pink girl smiled again. "Welcome to my room! Which is now yours, too."

"Thanks." Lacey set her dark purple suitcase down. She looked at the pink clothes that were lying on Aelita's bubblegum bed. _At least it's not hard to tell what her favorite color is._

"You didn't bring much, did you?" Aelita motioned to the suitcase. "Do you even have enough to make it to the next break?"

"I'm sure I do." Lacey gave her a small smile. _I hope I won't be here _that_ long._ She thought.

"I know my room is small, but I'm glad to share it." Aelita gestured around the room. "Even though I'm not _totally_ sure why they put you here—considering my room is a _single_ person room—I was getting lonely and I am glad to share." Aelita continued talking.

"Thanks." Lacey nodded, not really listening.

"I know you just got here and haven't had a chance to unpack or anything, but it's almost dinner." Aelita noted. "Do you want to come? You can sit with me and my friends, if you want."

"That's okay." Lacey answered, knowing what she had to do. "I think I'll stay here and pack. Thanks, though."

Aelita nodded, making a small sound of understanding. "See you later."

Lacey watched as Aelita closed the door behind her. As soon as she could hear that Aelita's footsteps had left the building, she pulled out her mobile and dialed her father's number, knowing that _the_ symbol would come up on the screen.

"Hello? It's me. I just arrived in Aelita's room."

**Hello again! Yes, I am on a roll today! And I am LOVING writing this story so far! (:**

**No, this will NOT be another OCXOdd story, UNLESS it is asked to be. I think I have some other plans for this story… Sometimes I just come up with the basic ideas of the story and then these little plot fairies and elves take off with it… Yup. That's my little excuse there. **

**Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! (:**

**xx**


	4. Chapter 3: New Warrior?

**Chapter 3: New Warrior?; General POV**

"Aelita, I heard you had a new roommate." Odd started as he sat down at dinner. Everyone was there, apart from Yumi who had gone home fairly early for dinner.

"Yes!" Aelita nodded excitedly. "I can already tell she's going to be great friends with us!"

"I vote no more new Lyoko Warriors." Ulrich stated. "After what happened with William—"

"I think we should wait and see." Aelita said. "Let's face it, William was incredibly reckless."

Odd swallowed the meatball he had in his mouth. "_I _think we could always use another hand."

Aelita looked over at the blonde boy seated next to her. "Jeremie, what do you think of all this?"

"Huh?" Jeremie looked up from the computer in his lap. "Sorry. I was running another scan. Just to check for towers."

"Really? _Another_ scan, Jeremie?" Odd asked, shoveling more food into his mouth.

"It's good to check that nothing is going wrong." Jeremie pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked back down at his computer.

Ulrich watched his roommate continue to gobble down his food. "Odd, you should really stop eating so fast before you—" Ulrich was interrupted by Odd coughing and dropping his fork. "Choke." He finished.

"I'm fine." Odd weakly said, picking his fork back up. He continued eating as all of his friends laughed.

"Snoop around. Got it." Lacey said into the phone and hung it up. "Lyoko…" she mumbled, over and over again. She picked up a pink book. _Is this Aelita's diary? _Lacey opened it. "Science notes." She mumbled, flipping through the notes that were written in curly handwriting about the periodic table. She stopped on one of the back pages, handwriting that was in blue pen and was less curved was in the back. It seemed as if Aelita and one of the guys—Jeremie—were writing back and forth.

_Any news about Lyoko or X.A.N.A. lately, Jeremie? _

**None yet. I'll keep you updated. Weird that X.A.N.A.'s been so inactive lately, huh?**

_Very. We better watch out. Whatever he's up to is going to be big, then. _

**Agreed. I'll keep checking. **

Lacey sighed. There wasn't any big information that she could give to X.A.N.A., except that the "Warriors" were getting suspicious. She put the journal back on Aelita's desk when she heard Aelita saying goodbye to her friends down the hall. She quickly sat on her bed and pretended to still be unpacking her clothes.

"It's a shame you missed dinner." Aelita said as she entered. "The food was pretty good tonight."

"I'll eat tomorrow morning." Lacey said, folding a black towel that she had in her suitcase. "Can I still take you up on your offer to sit with you and your friends tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Aelita smiled at her roommate. "It's nearly 10 o'clock. Are you going to shower?"

"I'm actually feeling kind of tired. I guess you could call it jetlag. I'll just shower in the morning." Lacey zipped her suitcase up, leaving only what X.A.N.A. had given her in it and shoved it under her bed.

"Okay, then." Aelita gathered her bath supplies. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Lacey nodded at her and pulled out her mobile to call X.A.N.A. Just as she was wondering if she could just text him instead, there was a knock at the door. She closed her contacts, bringing the screen back to her home page and opened the door. A blonde boy with glasses was standing there, looking rather nervous with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh! You must be Aelita's new roommate. Is she around?" the boy asked.

"Unfortunately not. She _just_ headed off to the showers." Lacey answered.

"Oh." He looked disappointed. "Can you just give her this?" He handed Lacey a piece of paper.

"Sure." She held it in her hand. "I'll tell her that you stopped by, Jeremie."

Jeremie furrowed his brow. "How did you know my name?"

_Oops. Please don't tell me I blew my cover _already_!_ Lacey mentally smacked herself. "Aelita told me about you."

Jeremie shrugged, seeming to buy the unsupported statement. "Tell Aelita I'll see her tomorrow."

"Bye." Lacey quickly closed the door and pushed her back up against it, making sure that no one could enter unannounced. She quickly unfolded the note. "Aelita," she read aloud. "Will you go to the dance with me? Jeremie."

Lacey groaned and folded the paper back up. Frustrated, she threw it on Aelita's bed. _It's only my first day_, she thought to herself. _I'll be able to get more tomorrow. _


	5. Chapter 4: XANA's Back!

**Chapter 4: X.A.N.A.'s Back!; General POV**

"I just can't believe she said yes!" Jeremie exclaimed to Odd as he sat down. He had just finished describing Aelita's call last night about the dance.

"Well, who else would she go with, Einstein?" Odd laughed, sitting down next to Jeremie. "Where is the princess anyway?"

"Helping her roommate get ready, I think." Jeremie picked up his fork. "She told me that she would be sitting with us today, so at least _try_ to be on your best behavior."

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't _have_ a best behavior." Odd responded, shoving a pancake into his mouth.

Jeremie sighed and shook his head. "Where's Ulrich, anyway?"

"Asking a certain girl to the dance." Odd laughed, continuing to put large amounts of food into his mouth.

"He's _really_ asking Yumi to the dance?" Jeremie asked. "I thought he would've chickened out by now."

"Just like we all thought you'd chicken out of asking Aelita." Odd smiled as Jeremie glared at him.

"Hey, Ulrich." Yumi said as she walked into the gates of Kadic's campus. "You waiting for me?"

"Actually, yes. I am." Ulrich nervously shoved his hands in his pockets. "I have something to ask you."

"Oh?" Yumi gave Ulrich a curious look as she walked beside him.

"I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go—"

"Oh, Ulrich dear!" A familiar, squeaky, female voice called. "I have something to ask you!" The annoying, black-haired teen approached the pair, who had stopped walking to face the girl.

"For the last time, I am _not_ your 'Ulrich dear', Sissi. And what do you want, anyway?" Ulrich grumbled, frustrated that someone had ruined his chance to ask Yumi to the dance.

Sissi twirled her hair around her finger and looked slightly "I was wondering if you might go to the dance with me?" She gave a wide, slightly nervous smile.

"Sorry, Sissi, but I already have plans for the dance." He side-glanced at Yumi, who tried to hide her disappointment. "Or I… plan to."

"Oh. But maybe—" Siss began, but was swiftly interrupted by the bell.

"Guess I'll be seeing you guys later." Yumi waved herself off, heading toward the older kids' classrooms.

"That's just great." Ulrich grumbled. He began walking toward his classroom.

"So is that a yes?" Siss asked as she watched her crush walk off. "Okay, later then?"

Ulrich ignored Sissi and continued walking to Ms. Hertz's class.

"So, Romeo, how'd it go?" Odd whispered to Ulrich, who was on the stool next to him.

"Don't wanna talk about it." Ulrich mumbled back.

"Ooh, someone's kind of touchy." Odd re-centered himself in his seat.

"Did Yumi turn you down?" Jeremie looked back at his two guy friends from his seat in front of them.

"Not exactly." Ulrich sighed, looking down at his desk. He searched for something in the room to change the subject. He spotted a redhead sitting with Aelita that he had never seen before. "So that's Aelita's new roommate?"

"Yep." Odd said.

"And she's in our grade?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, Lacey's in our grade." Jeremie replied, looking at Ulrich funny.

"What grade would she be in?" Odd asked his roommate.

"I don't know. She looks older. Like she could be in Yumi's grade or maybe even older than that." Ulrich noted— more to himself than the others.

"Boys!" Ms. Hertz turned from the board where she had been teaching. Do you find my class boring?" She scowled at the three.

"Well…" Odd quietly joked.

"Maybe if I hand back your tests, you will consider paying more attention in this class. Especially you, Mr. Stern."

"Great. Because my grades always make my day _so_ much better."

Meanwhile, up front where Lacey and Aelita were sitting, the pink-haired girl had already received her test back. Lacey curiously side-glanced, trying to see Aelita's paper. Aelita caught on and generously showed her roommate the paper.

"A-; lower than usual, but I'll survive." Aelita explained, giving a small shrug.

"So what do you and your friends do around here?" Lacey not-so-subtly blurted.

Aelita gave her a funny look. "What do you mean?"

Lacey was quick to think up a cover-story for her sudden interest. "I mean, what do you do for fun? There's got to be _something_ amusing to do around here."

Aelita seemed to buy the story. "Well, I guess we just hang out."

"Hang out where?" Lacey asked.

"In our rooms, I guess." Aelita shrugged again. "We just hang out, like normal friends."

"Right." Lacey nodded, though she felt frustration building up inside her.

"So, Ulrich, what'd you get on the quiz?" Odd asked his best friend. The small group, which included Jeremie, Aelita, Lacey, Odd, and Ulrich was walking to lunch, where they would meet up with Yumi.

"D+." He mumbled back, clearly unhappy.

"No way!" Odd exclaimed. "I got a _C_+! Which means that _I_ did better than _you_! Haha!"

"I don't believe this." Ulrich muttered back.

"It's happened before." Jeremie shrugged.

Ulrich looked genuinely upset and looked to be getting worse by the minute. "But I actually _studied_ for this test! And what did Odd do? He played video games!"

"Some people are just naturally smart." Odd laughed. "Get used to it."

"You're a nutcase." Ulrich grumbled as they entered the cafeteria.

Only a minute after the gang had all gotten their food and sat down, Yumi joined the group, taking a seat in between Ulrich and Aelita, putting her across from Lacey.

"You must be Aelita's new roommate." Yumi said, picking her spoon up to eat her soup. "Lacey, right?"

Lacey nodded. "And you must be Yumi. I've already heard a lot about you."

"Yeah?" Yumi dipped a cracker in her soup.

"Yumi here lives off campus." Odd interjected. "Just a few blocks away."

"How cool." Lacey gave the Japanese girl a small smile.

"I guess." Yumi shrugged, swallowing the bit of soup she had in her mouth. "It's kind of a pain to run here and run back before curfew every time—" Yumi quickly stopped herself before she said "Every time X.A.N.A. attacks Lyoko". Instead, she said, with a slight pause, "every time we want to hang out."

Lacey, being the agent that she was, pretended to buy this story. "Oh. Well I guess it's cool that you still get to live with your family."

Yumi nodded, and when she thought Lacey wasn't looking, she and Ulrich shared a look.

"So, Lacey, where are you from?" Aelita kindly asked her roommate.

"Oh, here, there, everywhere, really." Lacey shrugged. "My family moves a lot."

"I would love to do that!" Odd continuing shoveling food into his mouth. "Instead of staying in this boring place all of the time!"

"You know you like it here." Ulrich told his roommate.

"Yeah, you're right." Odd agreed. "Kiwi couldn't stand moving everywhere." He laughed.

"Therefore, y is equal to…" Mrs. Hertz continued drawing on her board, but Jeremie's concentration was broken by his laptop beeping. He subtly pulled it out.

"X.A.N.A.!" He whispered. "He's back!"

**Sorry it's been so long, guys! I've been busy with the horses lately (yes I ride horses)! Also, school has started back up again, so I've been busy with that (this is my freshman year of highschool!)! Thanks for the reviews, reads (Yeah, I keep track…), favorites, and follows! You have no idea how much they make my day! **

**XX,**

**peddiegirl101**


	6. Chapter 5: First Battle in Weeks

**Chapter 5: The First Battle in Weeks; General POV**

"It's about time something exciting happened!" Odd exclaimed as him, Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie ran to the factory, where they would meet Yumi. "X.A.N.A.'s been so quiet lately I almost thought he was surrendering!"

"I don't think that'll happen anytime soon." Jeremie responded. "Unfortunately."

"I hope Lacey's going to be okay on her own." Aelita mused. The pink-haired girl had just thrown a lame excuse over her shoulder as she rushed out the classroom.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Ulrich assured. "Besides, this is important."

"Yeah, saving the world for the billionth time is _way_ more important than helping your brand new roommate to her next class." Odd grinned.

"Not helping." Ulrich told his friend as Jeremie lifted the manhole that led to the sewers.

"I think they're heading there right now." Lacey whispered into her phone.

"And you didn't bother to _follow_ them?" Lacey's X.A.N.A.-fied dad questioned.

"Look, it's only my first day handing out with them. "Lacey began to explain. "I need to gain their trust before I can go with them."

"You know what needs to be done, so do it." Lacey's father's possessed voice came back before Lacey heard the phone click.

"Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Odd. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Odd. Virtualization!" Jeremie watched as the two images appeared in the screen, "Ulrich, Yumi, give me a minute to program the vehicles abd then I'll transfer you two. Odd and Aelita need a bit of a head start."

"That's fine, Jeremie." Yumi yelled from where she was in the scanner room.

"Yumi," Ulrich broke the awkward silence. "About that dance—"

"Who did you ask, Ulrich?" Yumi questioned.

"No one!" He quickly responded. "Not yet, anyway." He gave Yumi a small, yet shy smile. "Has someone asked you?"

"Well—" Yumi was interrupted by the ground shaking. Or, rather, the whole building. "Jeremie!" she called up to her friend after the ground stopped shaking. When there was no response, the Japanese girl and the German boy looked at each other before heading back into the elevator to check on the blonde boy.

When they got up there, Jeremie was lying on the floor, unconscious. His headset was laying on the keyboard, waiting for someone to pick it back up. Ulrich and Yumi bent down next to their friend. Yumi checked for a pulse and nodded at Ulrich when she found one. She quickly got up and grabbed the idle headset to communicate to her virtualized friends.

"Guys, is something wrong?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, keep us in the loop!" Odd added.

Yumi looked back down at the unresponsive Jeremie, who was being tended to by Ulrich. "Jeremie looks like he got hit by something in the head." She replied. "He's unconscious, but I think he'll be alright. In the meantime, I'll try to finish programming the overboard. As soon as I figure out where Jeremie was before he was interrupted, that is." Yumi began studying the screen.

"Hurry, Yumi. I see some hornets coming our way." Aelita commented.

"I'll take care of them!" Odd jumped up. "Laser arrow!" Both of the hornets exploded. He landed back on his hands and feet, similar to a cat's posture. "You know, I think X.A.N.A.'s little vacation just made him weaker."

Aelita looked skeptical. "Any other monsters, Yumi?"

"It looks like there's some around the activated tower, which is a bit north of you." Yumi told the duo. "Here's your ride."

"Thanks, Yumi!" Odd jumped on his purple transportation. "Need a lift, princess?"

"No thanks." Aelita swiped her hand over her bracelet to activate her wings. "I think I'll fly."

"There's three tarantulas and two bloks guarding the tower." Yumi told her friends. "You guys can handle it, right?"

"Of course!" Odd picked up speed as he was heading toward the tower that was currently surrounded by red.

"Be careful, you two. I'll virtualize myself in just a minute." Yumi activated auto-virtualization and looked back at Ulrich. "You can manage things here, right?"

Ulrich stood up and nodded. Yumi nodded back and began to leave, but Ulrich caught her arm before she could do so.

"Good luck." He told her shyly. They both blushed a bit and smiled at each other for a minute.

"I'll be back." She nodded again and slowly went back into the elevator.

Ulrich sighed and took hold of the headset. "Don't worry guys. Yumi's on her way."

"How's Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

Ulrich checked back on his blonde friend. "He's out cold, but he's still breathing. I'm watching him, don't worry Aelita." He teased.

"Thanks, Ulrich." Aelita felt her face turn slightly warmer. She then could here Yumi landing behind her. Yumi immediately shot her fans at the Bloks, successfully hitting both.

Just as Yumi had done so, the factory began shaking again. A piece of metal fell from the ceiling, just missing Ulrich's head.

"Well, now we know how Jeremie was knocked out." Ulrich mumbled. "Do you guys think you could hurry? The factory's kind of falling apart."

"Well, it would help if X.A.N.A.'s monsters would stop shooting at us." Odd sarcastically replied.

"He's still pretty weak for how long he took off." Yumi noted again before effectively striking a tarantula.

"I agree. I thought that it would be much bigger than this." Aelita nodded, before getting hit by a shot.

"Careful, Aelita." Ulrich pulled up her I.D. card. "You only have 20 points left."

"Laser arrow!" Odd yelled as he destroyed another tarantula. "I don't know what you guys are talking about. X.A.N.A. seems pretty normal to me."

"No, the girls are right." Ulrich responded. "Only a few earthquakes? Seems pretty flimsy."

"Fine. I'll just be all alone on my little island then." Odd crossed his arms.

Yumi rolled her eyes at Odd's childish comment and threw a fan at the last tarantula. "He must be planning something bigger, then."

"I'm going in!" Aelita announced, walking quickly into the tower.

"Man, she gets all the fun." Odd whined.

"You could've called it you know." Yumi pointed out.

"Tower deactivated." Aelita said as she watched the data files disappear shortly.

"I'll devirtualize you guys." Ulrich said to his friends. "No use doing a return to the past."

"You think Jeremie's going to be okay?" Yumi asked.

"He just needs a little trip to the infirmary and he'll be fine." Ulrich answered. "I'm bringing you in."

Once Ulrich knew that his friends were on the way, he sighed with relief. "Another X.A.N.A. mission down."

**So I'm really enjoying writing this, but are you enjoying reading it? Let me know! (: NEW: Review and you get a sneak peek of the next chapter!**

**And I KNOW I haven't updated in forever, but I was busy. I went to my favorite band's (Sick Puppies! Charming Liars, who I LOVE, was an opening act along with Thiron X and Candlelight Red. Yeah… I like rock;)) concert last night and it was AMAZING! And I have horse shows coming up to practice for… Yep. Busy. Did I mention school? No? I somehow have time for that. ;) **

**See you soon!**

**Peddiegirl101**


	7. Chapter 6: A Worthy Warrior?

**Chapter 6: A Worthy Warrior?; General POV**

By the time Aelita got back to her dorm, it was dark outside. She quietly opened the door, trying to avoid disturbing her roommate.

At the sound of the door opening, Lacey looked up from her science homework. Aelita quickly apologized and sat down on her bed.

"Have you been doing homework the entire time I was gone?" Aelita asked her roommate.

"The entire time, all right." Lacey lied. "Where were you, anyway?"

"Sorry. My friends and I had a bit of an emergency."

"Oh." Lacey replied. _Time to get closer_, she thought. "I just thought that maybe I was part of your little group now."

"Oh, don't worry. It wasn't important." Aelita lied.

"But you said it was an emergency?"

Aelita flushed at her mistake. "Oh, not that kind of emergency."

"What kind of emergency, then?"

"A…" Aelita took a minute to think. "Girl one."

"So you, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie all had a 'girl emergency'?" Lacey raised an eyebrow.

"No! Yes!" Aelita backtracked. "We... uh… It was actually only Yumi and me."

"You don't have to lie. I get it." Lacey let out a fake sigh. "You don't want me hanging around your group."

"No!" Aelita quickly replied. "It's not that! I do want you in my group!"

"You do?" Lacey questioned.

"Yes! Of course! You're my roommate; of course I would want you to hang out with me!"

"Okay then." Lacey, knowing the conversation could g on for hours, dropped it. "So.. what kind of girl talk?"

"Oh… It was nothing." Aelita avoided eye contact.

Lacey, on the other hand, continued acting like she had no idea where Aelita was. "Ooh, was it about guys?"

"Sure." Aelita nodded.

"You've got your eye on someone?" Lacey asked her as she wore a teasing look on her face.

"Maybe." Aelita stopped lying.

"Really? _Who_?!"

"Maybe I like Jeremie…" Aelita blushed.

Lacey gasped, dropping her act. "_Jeremie_?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. Everyone knows Jeremie and I like each other."

"Are you dating?"

Aelita looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not officially. But everyone knows how we feel about each other."

"What about Yumi?" Lacey asked her pink-haired roommate.

"What about her?"

"Who's she like?"

Aelita wondered for a moment whether Yumi would mind her telling Lacey. _Well, everyone knows, anyway. It's not like it's a big secret._ "She and Ulrich _really_ like each other. They're not dating, though."

"What's up with this school and everyone liking each other, but not dating?" Lacey laughed. "Okay, that came out kind of wrong, but still."

"And it doesn't help that William _really_, _really_ likes Yumi, too." Aelita added.

Lacey closed her science book, obviously enjoying the gossip. "Ooh, love triangle!"

Aelita giggled. "I guess it kind of is."

"I'll see you later!" Lacey waved to her friend on her way to the principal's office to review the rules again. The morning sun was bright and warm, making the air seem crisp.

Aelita waved to her and headed toward the cafeteria. As soon as she had gotten out of the line with her tray full of food, she could hear Jeremie calling her over to their table, where everyone except Yumi—who was apparently eating breakfast at home with her family—was sitting.

"No Lacey?" Ulrich asked his pink-haired friend as she sat down next to Jeremie.

"She has a meeting with Delmas about the rules of the campus." Aelita told her friends.

"He's probably telling her because he knows how well we follow them." Jeremie replied.

"In our defense, it's usually either follow the rules or save the planet." Ulrich answered.

"Yeah, we can't help being superheroes!" Odd exclaimed.

"What's this about superheroes?" Sissi approached the table.

"It's something you're not." Ulrich murmured.

Sissi huffed. "For you information, I once saved a kitten from drowning in a bird bath." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure glad the fate of the world isn't in _your_ hands. We would all be doomed."

"For

"For _your_ information—" Odd began before Jeremie kicked him. "Ow." He threw Jeremie a look.

"What was that?" Sissi questioned, putting a hand on her hip.

"Nothing." Odd mumbled, slumping in his seat.

Sissi huffed again and turned to walk away. "That's what I thought."

"I can't believe her." Odd commented as he watched her walk away. "After all the times we've saved her, too!"

"In case you've forgotten, Odd, Sissi doesn't remember any times that we've saved her." Jeremie reminded him.

"Besides, she's helped us, too." Ulrich added.

Aelita was looking steadily down at her food the entire time this was going on. And it didn't get unnoticed, either.

Ulrich looked at his friend. "Aelita, are you alright?"

"It's going to be too hard to hide Lyoko from my roommate. I think I have to tell her about Lyoko." Aelita avoided eye contact with all of her friends.

"Aelita, no!" Jeremie exclaimed. Ulrich and Odd also let out sounds of protest.

"I'm sorry guys, but I almost got caught last night. If it keeps happening, Lacey's going to get suspicious." Aelita quietly explained.

"That's what returns to the past are for!" Odd told Aelita.

"I know, but we don't always do a return to the past." Aelita replied.

"She has a point." Ulrich spoke up. "If we were to do a return to the past every battle, we'd probably have to every time we mentioned X.A.N.A. or Lyoko or anything related to that. And we all know what happens after too many returns the past."

"X.A.N.A. will only get stronger." Aelita said.

"I still think it's a bad idea." Jeremie mumbled.

"Well, I happen to agree with Aelita." Ulrich said. "It's one thing keeping it from our other friends or even Sissi, but it's another thing to keep it from a roommate."

"I don't think it's the best idea." Jeremie repeated. He looked at his blonde friend. "Odd, you've been surprisingly quiet. What do you think?"

"I happen to agree with Aelita." Odd said. "I couldn't imagine trying to hide that from Ulrich."

"Maybe Yumi will agree with me." Jeremie mumbled.

"Sorry, but I'm with Jeremie on this one." Yumi shrugged. "I think having a new warrior would be too dangerous, especially after what went down with William."

"Who says she would have to be a warrior?" Aelita said.

"She's going to be and you know it, Aelita." Yumi replied. "Sorry, but I just think it's safe."

"What if we trained her?" Odd asked.

"We tried with William, and that didn't exactly work out." Jeremie pointed out.

"We'll be more careful this time, I promise. And it was only me last time, remember? Maybe it'll help if all of us are there." Aelita suggested.

"Maybe." Yumi quietly responded.

"Come on, Jeremie." Ulrich said to him.

"I'll think about it." He replied. "Let's keep an eye on her for a while and make sure that she's worthy."

**Yay! All done! And this story has been getting a lot more favorites and follows than reviews, which is GREAT accept I only have one person reviewing… yeah. SO THANK YOU nickyd125! (:**

**One more thing: this is BEFORE Code Lyoko Evolution, but I'm making it so that the characters can all deactivate the towers like in Evolution. Make sense? I just like the idea of that… Yep. **

**I probably won't see you until next week since I'm showing at my county fair this weekend. Plus I have a TON of homework I should be doing but I'd rather watch Code Lyoko and write… (:**

**See ya! **


	8. Chapter 8: Lacey's Diary 1

_*Lacey's Diary*_

_I'm in. Aelita told me about the supercomputer last night and the gang is taking me there today. I know it's what X.A.N.A. wants and what I want doesn't matter, but I still don't want to gain their trust just to tear it apart. It's not right. _

_Yumi's suspicious of me, I know it. Aelita says it's because of the last warrior, William, but I can't help but think she senses something. Thankfully she lives off-campus so she won't be around as much to prove anything. I still am being careful around her, though. _

_Ulrich seems nice enough, but I know he'll be the first to believe Yumi if she tells him. And I know that the two of them can convince the group to go against me. On a brighter note, he's really shy and I think it's adorable how he acts when Yumi's around. I think it's more fun to watch them interact than to listen to Aelita and Jeremie discuss the biology homework. _

_Super genius Jeremie is nice, but he's kind of boring. He hasn't really done much since I've arrived. But, these past few days, I've seen him watching me. Aelita said it was to decide if I could be trusted (or not) to become part of the group. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it's freaking me out a bit._

_Odd, on the other hand, is not boring. He's almost too much to control. Not only is he a walking vacuum when it comes to food, but he talks the most out of any of the other group members, and he's the most disorganized person I have ever met. I don't know if he suspects anything, but I think he's one o those people who give benefit of doubt. _

_Aelita is possibly the sweetest person I have ever met. Her clothes are so pink they give me cavities, but she's definitely the most lovable of the group. She's also the best at keeping secrets. That doesn't mean I'll be telling her about why I'm here; it's just a note. For a girl that spent like 10 years trapped in a computer, her people skills are pretty good. _

_I'm figuring out how to balance my school work (though X.A.N.A. doesn't care about it) and trying to figure out this whole Lyoko thing and still have time for myself (though I'm not supposed to). _

_Maybe things will get better._

_They're showing me the factory tonight. I'm actually excited to see what the big deal is. It has to be cool, right? If all their big secrets our down there, I can only imagine what it looks like. I have all these questions, too; I can't help my curiosity. Like, how do they get into Lyoko in the first place? And what do the monsters look like? And what about what they look like on Lyoko?_

_Am I supposed to go on their tonight? According to X.A.N.A., yes, but I think they're going to want me to hang back and see how it's done. We'll see, though. Tonight is the night. I'm practically buzzing with excitement—I can't wait! Only I have to go through a day of classes to get to it… _

**Hi! I know I was gone, but I'm back now! So, I now have an updating schedule! Woo! I THINK (my schedule is in my locker at school… ): ) I have this story down for Wednesdays, so it will be updated at least once a week, usually on Wednesday! (: **

**See ya later! **


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